Celebrating 10 Years and Looking Ahead
March 2026
From February 24–26, 2026, the Steering Committee, Support Staff, and delegates came together in Thunder Bay for a three-day planning gathering – Stronger Together: Planning for Our Future. This gathering provided an opportunity to reconnect, strengthen relationships, celebrate shared achievements, and envision the future of the alliance.
As Mamow Ahyamowen marked 10 years of collaboration (2016–2026), participants reflected on a decade of meaningful progress. Together, the alliance has built trusted relationships, strengthened data and analytic capacity, and supported First Nations communities through community-driven, data-informed initiatives.
Discussions focused on where we’ve been, where we are today, and where we’re going next. These conversations helped shape the foundation for a new five-year strategic plan and highlighted five key areas of focus:
- Strengthening capacity across communities and organizations
- Advancing strategic and tailored knowledge translation and exchange
- Addressing persistent and critical data gaps
- Supporting data acquisition and advocacy
- Establishing priority indicators and coordinated reporting
A shared vision also emerged to broaden the alliance’s work beyond retrospective health reporting by incorporating cross-sector and systems-level data. By including information related to housing, justice, the environment, child and family well-being, and other social determinants of health, Mamow Ahyamowen is well positioned to continue supporting First Nations with meaningful, community-driven evidence.
We would like to say chi-miigwech to everyone who participated in this important milestone gathering. Your insights, collaboration, and commitment made the event both meaningful and inspiring as we reflected on the past, celebrated our achievements, and planned for our future.
We also want to recognize the foresight of past Steering Committee members who saw the value and potential of working together, and we honour the ongoing commitment of those who continue to guide the Alliance today. Their leadership, trust, and dedication have been instrumental in shaping Mamow Ahyamowen and continue to inspire its future direction.
Chi-miigwech to Mariette Sutherland for facilitating the meeting, keeping us on track, and helping us accomplish what we set out to do. A special thank you to Lynne Dalgleish, Graphic Recorder and Studio Artist, at ThinkLink Graphics whose creativity and thoughtful work helped bring our ideas to life in such a meaningful and engaging way. Finally, chi-miigwech to Ingaged for their event planning, coordination, and support. We are grateful for their support in planning and delivering this gathering and for helping to create a welcoming, engaging, and productive event.
